


Collateral

by Scedasticity



Series: Start Again [6]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, New Game Plus, Sort Of, more characters may be tagged as they appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26310283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scedasticity/pseuds/Scedasticity
Summary: Makoto has a lot to catch up on in a hurry. The concussion IS NOT HELPING.
Series: Start Again [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/914673
Comments: 209
Kudos: 340





	1. Default

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sixth story in "Start Again". I would strongly advise reading the others first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Note 2/9/2021: Retcondo has been executed (i.e. the Okumura house is now a condo)_

When Makoto woke up, she remembered everything. 

Or. She remembered the previous timeline. 

She did _not_ remember why she was lying in a hospital bed. Although it made sense with how much everything hurt. "What…?"

"Makoto?" Sae said. Makoto looked over in time to see her sister rise from a chair and hurry the two steps to the bed. She looked terrible, suit wrinkled and hair disordered. "Are you awake for real this time?"

"Sis?" Makoto said. "I… think so?" What had happened? She realized her hands were bandaged — her arms, too, mostly below and around the elbow but with a large gauze pad on her right bicep, disappearing up the short sleeve of her hospital gown.

"I'm so glad. They said it was normal, but… Good." Sae gave her an extremely gentle pat on the shoulder. "I'll call the nurse."

It felt like there was another bandage in the middle of her back? Nothing on her chest or stomach, but there was one on her right leg hip to knee, then definitely the front of both knees, maybe more. It hurt. _Everything_ hurt, but the bandaged places were _rawer_. What skin there was visible between all the bandages was starting to bruise. Her fingers seemed stiff and a little swollen. "Where — what — how did I get here?"

"Do you not— What's the last thing you remember?"

Her head throbbed. "Um… I had that student council ahead-of-term meeting?"

"Yes," Sae said tensely. "By the way, what time was it supposed to be?"

"Um, ten to two." And then they'd been going to go interviewing Shadows in Chemdah — but she didn't remember going to Mementos — in fact— "I… don't remember anything after I got to Shuujin? I think?" What _happened_?

Sae's mouth twisted. "Damn."

Before Makoto could inquire further, a nurse arrived. She asked a bunch of strange questions which — head injury. They were acting like she had a head injury. Her head _hurt_ enough for a head injury — and it felt like there was a bump, in the back. The nurse gave her some water and asked how much pain she was in, and did something her IV. She hadn't even noticed the IV.

Then a _doctor_ showed up and asked all the same head injury questions as the nurse.

"She still can't remember anything since this morning," Sae said. "Even though she's fully awake this time?"

"Some short-term memory loss around the injury isn't unexpected," the doctor said reassuringly. "The CT scan was clear, and she's alert now. Just a mild concussion." He turned back to Makoto. "Get plenty of rest and stay away from screens for the next week and you shouldn't have any long-term effects. You have multiple abrasions and heavy bruising, but no whiplash or breaks — you'll be just fine. We can probably get you out of here tomorrow!"

"…Thank you," Makoto said. What. _Happened_.

"When will she remember?" Sae asked.

The doctor shook his head. "Memory loss after a brain injury is unpredictable. It may come back over the next few days, it could return suddenly in a month — or she may never remember."

"I see," Sae said. "Thank you."

After a few pleasantries (mostly directed at Sae), the doctor left. The nurse stayed a little longer, making sure Makoto knew how to control the bed and could wobble to the bathroom (ow), and supervising the extremely light meal someone delivered. Finally she told them to press the call button if they needed anything and started to leave, but then paused to ask, "Will that police officer want to take her statement again, now that she's more coherent?"

"No," Sae said. "They were satisfied with what they got."

 _What the hell_.

As soon as the door closed behind the nurse, Makoto scrambled to grab at Sae's sleeve. (Ow.) "Sis, what _happened_?!"

Sae returned to the chair she'd been in when Makoto woke up. "You fell out of a moving car."

"…What? How — I mean, where—"

"It drove away and hasn't been identified," Sae said tiredly. "I was hoping you could tell us more — apparently a witness told the paramedics you tucked and rolled so you were definitely conscious before — but every time you woke up a little before you had no idea what had happened, so I was afraid the concussion might be getting in the way."

"That's… not good," Makoto said inadequately. (How fast had it been going, that she'd been scraped up through her sleeves and stockings when she hit the pavement? No wonder the doctor had focused on the lack of broken bones and whiplash.) "I was at the student council meeting, how — when was—"

"You were admitted to the hospital just after two," Sae said. "Your friend Haru found your phone and your bag still in Shuujin. She's bringing them here tomorrow. Not that you can use your phone with the concussion."

"That's—" So while she was still supposed to be attending the meeting, she had somehow gotten — without her phone or her bag, or presumably her coat — from the school to a car she probably _jumped out of_. "I don't… Wait, do you think this might have something to do with one of your cases?"

"If you can't remember you can't remember," Sae said, which did _not_ answer the question. "The important thing for you is to recover and stay safe. I have… inquired about police protection, but that's… not certain, yet."

Phantom Thief Makoto wanted nothing to do with police protection. New Timeline Makoto wasn't quite as wary of cops, but still didn't want anyone _watching_ her.

But she could recognize that from Sae's perspective, police protection wasn't an unreasonable idea. Police _investigation_ was an even more reasonable one, but— "They took my statement while I was _semiconscious_?"

"More 'conscious but clearly disoriented'," Sae said. "But you need to rest now. It's close to midnight."

"I've been sleeping all day, apparently," Makoto protested. She _was_ tired, but there were so many things to think about (and so many things hurting) she doubted she'd get any sleep.

"Just rest," Sae said firmly, and then dimmed the room light and settled into the chair with her laptop like she planned to work there all night.

"But—"

" _Rest_ , Makoto."

Sae refused to say anything else, effectively leaving Makoto alone with her thoughts (and her multiple abrasions and heavy bruising). She wished she had her phone to message the groupchat. She wished she'd be allowed to use her phone if she had it. At least Haru was definitely coming tomorrow. For now, thinking.

Item one: Goro.

It was strange, how much— Obviously she liked Goro more than "Black Mask trying to kill them" Akechi. But she liked him a lot more than she'd liked "Detective Prince" Akechi, too, before she'd had any idea of his true nature. Some of that was probably familiarity — some of it was the lack of jealousy for Sae's attention — but the _extent_ of it, especially given how unapologetically vicious Goro could get, compared to future Akechi's charming facade—

Well, no, actually, "Detective Prince" Akechi had been obnoxiously condescending to everyone with the _possible_ exception of Akira. And he was a lot more _subtle_ with his jabs than Goro was, but that didn't make them hurt less — just made it harder to know how to react to them. So it wasn't that surprising, that she liked Goro so much better.

(She wondered if the condescension and subtle psychological attacks had covered up how the pleasant facade was never quite _right_ , if you paid enough attention, or if he'd perfected that.)

Fortunately she knew Goro a lot better than she'd known Future Evil Akechi, so it shouldn't be too hard to move those feelings out of the way. It would make things a little awkward, that they were no longer the non-time-travelers club, but they'd get past it. And maybe that could be something for him to bond with Hifumi over.

Speaking of whom — no, no, cover this in order.

Item two: Kamoshida.

Ann and Ryuji had tried to describe Kamoshida's Palace but she'd had _no idea_ how bad it was. She wasn't sure she'd ever spoken to Kamoshida before entering his Palace last year and his Shadow still drove her to a Persona awakening in ten minutes of monologuing. _Seriously._ They had to get rid of him.

And before Ryuji or Ann got hurt! They'd be starting Shuujin in a _week_ — when had Ryuji been hurt, last time? It couldn't have been immediately after school started, but it couldn't have been late in the year either when he'd been as healed as possible starting his second year… Hmm. She'd heard about it — a Kamoshida version of it — when it happened, through student council, but when _was_ that? She remembered how she'd felt about it — trying so hard to put all the blame on the student, but still wondering if it had been necessary to hurt him _that_ badly, staring out the window at the cold autumn rain— Okay. Not before September for the injury.

 _Assuming_ nothing changed. Which might not be a safe assumption considering Hifumi's mother. So: unless they could bring down Kamoshida in the next few weeks, they should probably step in and make sure Ryuji and Ann were aware of what they were potentially dealing with, and even having done that Kamoshida should be on the agenda. They'd figure out the Personas and/or memories somehow. Student Council President was a stupid position and she'd been hopelessly naive to think she could seriously help the student body with it, but her hopes had been real, and in a way the responsibility was real, so while she understood Haru's position — Kamoshida needed to go.

Item three: Hifumi, and Yusuke, and Kana-chan.

Getting her memory back hadn't much changed her perspective on any of those, really. Madarame was contemptible and the amount of time they'd just let that situation go on was strange — had Yusuke gotten too used to it, in the months in the past before getting back into the Metaverse? — but the situation was still stable.

The situation with Hifumi's mother was _not_ stable. She sympathized with Hifumi's desire not to acknowledge how bad it was getting — but it was getting dangerous. For whatever reason it wasn't acting anything like the old timeline anymore, so they couldn't look to that as a guide. It was getting worse. The mention of _modeling_ , after everything they'd heard about Kana-chan— Makoto wasn't even sure it would be safe to put Mitsuyo Togo after Kamoshida on the list. At least Kamoshida wasn't currently in the process of escalating.

As for Kana-chan — it turned her stomach. They should have asked more questions, the first time. They shouldn't have just let it go. But with Futaba not at school with Kana, not having spoken to her for over a year, with no adult in on the Phantom Thieves, with the threat of arrest and Future Evil Akechi's blackmail and Sae's Palace and everything happening — what more could they have done? Maybe it was just as well they hadn't known.

Item four: Wakaba (and Sojiro).

She felt considerably weirder about involving an adult than she had in the morning, but if they were going to do that Sojiro-san and Futaba's mother were good choices. Wakaba-san seemed very sensible and reliable, at least, even with her doubts about changes of heart and teenage vigilantism.

(Not that she'd felt entirely sanguine about bringing adults in even without her memories — just one of the three of them had to be on speaking terms with Wakaba-san and Sojiro-san, and it obviously wasn't going to be either of the other two. Haru was less wary of adults in general than Goro, but Makoto thought at least half the difference was that she was in a better position to manipulate them and knew it.)

(She was… glad, actually, that she'd spoken to Wakaba about the ethics of changes of heart before she got her memory back. Changes of heart had just been so _normal_ and _necessary_ in the last timeline she wouldn't have questioned any more than Haru and Yusuke and Futaba did. Makoto wouldn't say she _agreed_ with Wakaba's concerns, but she understood them in a way she wasn't sure she would have, hearing them with the future memories in place.)

(Unrelatedly, Sojiro without Leblanc was strange. She hoped Futaba was right and the cafe would be coming soon.)

And speaking of adults…

Item five: Sae.

Sae wasn't as bad as she'd been in the future when she had a Palace — but the tension was obvious. Shouldn't chasing gangsters be easier and less morally stressful than chasing Phantom Thieves? Gangsters with ties to a corrupt prosecutor, all right, that was a complication, but still. And Makoto knew her sister cared for her, was certainly very glad Sae was there when she woke up and talked to the doctor, but she was a big girl, she didn't need Sae camping in the chair all night without even sleeping, she wasn't even watching her laptop as much as she was watching the door—

—Like she was standing in for the police protection they weren't getting, maybe. Like she thought Makoto might be in danger, left alone in the hospital. Oh.

Makoto hadn't been worried, but… Sae might have a point?

Item six: She remembered the other timeline now.

Makoto got very little sleep.

* * *

In the morning they did the concussion tests again and pronounced her doing well, and changed the bandages (ow), and said Makoto could probably be released in the afternoon. Sae, who didn't look like she'd slept at all, spent a lot of time arguing on the phone. Makoto was mostly sure she was still trying for police protection or at least time off from work, but she didn't seem to be getting a good response for either.

Haru arrived at ten, with Makoto's phone and bag but without any of the others. (Also without her coat. Maybe she'd left her coat in her locker at school?) "Mako-chan! You look terrible, what _happened_?"

"That's, um," Makoto glanced at Sae, on the phone again. "I fell out of a moving car apparently? But I don't remember how it happened. Head injury."

Haru's eyes widened, then narrowed, then widened again. "That's awful!"

Makoto glanced at Sae again. "I, um, remember a lot of _other_ stuff, though."

"You—" Haru also looked at Sae. "You mean—"

"Last timeline," Makoto confirmed softly. "But nothing at all between getting to Shuujin and waking up here late last night." She accepted the bag, but not the phone. "You'd better hang on to that, I'm not supposed to look at screens for a week." She'd say give the phone to Sae, but she did _not_ need Sae getting into her phone.

"Sae-san looks, ah…"

"I don't think she's left since she got here."

"Not even to get you a change of clothes, I gather."

"No." Makoto was in scrubs. She'd seen what was left of her clothes, placed in a plastic bag the police hadn't been interested in examining for evidence. Her shirt and stockings had been a total loss, her skirt had torn, her bra clasp had broken, and an abrasion on her back had bled onto her underpants. (Her shoes, at least, were presumably still in her locker at school, hopefully with her coat. She had arrived at the hospital wearing one school shoe.)

"I see." Haru nodded decisively. "You'll just have to come stay with me while you recover."

"What?" Sae said, her phone call having evidently ended at just the right — or wrong — time.

"Um," Makoto said. "Sis, you remember Haru Okumura—"

"Niijima-san," Haru said respectfully. "I was just inviting Mako-chan to come stay with me while she's recovering. I know you have a very demanding job, while I don't even have school for another week; even after that, the building has an excellent and well-vetted staff that could be contacted in case of emergency. Very good security overall."

Rather than the skepticism Makoto expected, Sae looked… thoughtful. "Makoto, what do you think about this idea?"

"It might make things simpler?" Makoto ventured. "Especially if the office is still reluctant to give you leave…" She paused. "Although I, um, would like to get some things from home, if we do that. Some changes of clothes?" And her Metaverse tote, because she needed Sae getting into that only slightly less than she needed Sae getting into her phone.

"Right… Hmm, that might be best. Thank you for the offer. Did you take the train, Haru-kun, or did you come with a driver?"

Haru looked a little taken aback, probably by how little persuading she'd had to do, but recovered quickly. "The train, but I can call for the car—"

"No need — you should stay around for all the discharge information, then I'll drive both of you to our apartment and then to your building, Haru-kun."

(Oh, dear, did that mean Sae's car was in the hospital ramp? Didn't that cost more per hour than some minor surgeries?)

"I — yes, that makes sense," Haru said. "I should make a few calls, though, if you'll excuse me…"

Makoto caught at her sleeve before she could leave (ow). "Could you not tell everyone about my memory, yet?" Hopefully Sae would assume she meant the memory loss; hopefully Haru would realize she meant the memory recovery. "I want to tell Crow myself, preferably in person."

"…Good thinking," Haru said. "I'll just put off most of the explanations until we get there."

Futaba was going to _love_ that.

After Haru left the room, Makoto looked up at Sae (ow). "You're not going to, er… Not that I'm saying you need to, but I would've thought…"

"I looked into her background in the fall, when you started spending so much time at that condo," Sae said. "Her father's breakdown is a little concerning, but it seems unlikely he's involved in anything illegal now. And they do have decent security."

"…Oh." That was… good? Good because it meant Sae was more interested in and aware of Makoto's life than she had been in the future? It felt selfish to use that as an indicator of welfare, but it still felt true. Also good that it was specifically because of the condo, since that meant it probably hadn't extended to looking into Goro and hopefully wouldn't extend to looking into any of the others, because Goro and Futaba would _definitely_ not appreciate it. (Though Makoto at least would love to hear Sae's relative opinions of Madarame and Hifumi's mother.) "Um, about the security, or I guess, the need for it…?"

"You don't need to—" Sae broke off. "You should focus on recovering, I don't want you to worry about it. Just don't… You shouldn't be going out anyway, for the next week or so, but stick close to your friend if you have to, and maybe avoid… crowded public places. Or Shuujin. For a few weeks."

" _Is_ this about one of your cases?"

"I can't talk about that," Sae said. "…Or, actually, I suppose I _can_ say the director doesn't think it is."

In Makoto's opinion that opened up other possibilities of things Sae could say to give her more of an idea _what was going on_ , but Sae evidently disagreed. Instead she got Makoto making a list of things to pick up from their apartment. Dictating a list, rather, since it turned out Makoto's hand had sufficient bruising and abrasions that it hurt to hold a pen steady.

Haru returned from her phone calls and offered a thumbs up. Makoto wasn't entirely sure how to interpret that.

The discharge instructions had a long list of things she wasn't supposed to do beyond looking at screens — ideally she didn't seem to be supposed to do much of anything, in fact. Since she couldn't very well stop herself from thinking, she didn't think talking about what she was thinking was likely to be much worse.

She gathered that the doctors had intended to prescribe stronger painkillers than Sae had accepted — in fact, it seemed like Sae intended to proceed with over-the-counter medicine and ice. Makoto wasn't sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, Sae wasn't the one _in significant pain_ over here. On the other hand — could this be like Sae staying awake all night? Sojiro hadn't thought Wakaba was necessarily safe in the hospital, either, did Sae think there could be something wrong with the medications? On the _other_ other hand, this might be anti-opioid prejudice.

Who knew. Makoto wasn't going to get in a fight about it. Even though _everything hurt_.

The ride from the hospital to the Niijima apartment could have been tense, but Haru kept up a bland, innocuous conversation about traffic and the weather. Makoto focused on trying not to be embarrassed about still wearing nothing but scrubs.

At home, Makoto _finally_ got a chance to get dressed. She packed more loose-fitting, comfortable clothes — which she didn't have all that many of, actually — and a few more presentable outfits. She'd put on her summer-weight shoes to get to Haru's, where they'd have guest slippers. (She _did_ hope her own shoes were at Shuujin.) Hairbrush, toothbrush, other toiletries. Her phone charger. A notebook and pen — discharge instructions discouraged writing, but not as much as they discouraged screens. If she'd had her schoolbooks for the upcoming year she'd have packed those, discouragement of reading be damned, but she didn't.

Her heart leapt when she spotted her Buchimaru-kun doll — obviously the faded stuffed panda was right on the nightstand where he normally lived, but Makoto had given him away, just over a year from now, along with everything else in her bedroom that could be interpreted as 'childish'. It had only occurred to her the next day that a toy as old as that would only be thrown away. She'd cried, and lied and told Sae it was because she'd read an article about starving children, and Sae had looked at her with no more respect than she had before Makoto got rid of everything, and it had made for a terrible start to the school year.

Buchimaru-kun went into the suitcase. Sneakily.

She made sure Haru picked up her Metaverse tote. Makoto didn't want to have to explain the model revolver to Sae. Or the brass knuckles. Or the gilded vest. Or the lockpicks. Or the Goho-M. Or the plant balms, or the iron sand, or the phosphorus. Or the arginade, even.

Sae spent almost the entire time at the living room window, frowning down at the street below. Makoto went to look at one point, but Sae shooed her away before she could figure out if there was anything unusual there.

During the drive from the apartment to Haru's building, Sae got Haru to read the post-discharge care instructions about the abrasions and bruising aloud, which was mildly embarrassing. Haru finally held up a hand. "Before we get there, Niijima-san — there's a loading space by the front entrance where you can stop briefly, but if you want to come in for tea or a late lunch I can see about someone letting you into the garage…?"

Unsurprisingly, Sae shook her head. "I need to get back to work, I'm afraid. Can you get Makoto's bags up to your condo by yourself?"

"I can ask the desk to send someone to help get the bags as far as our door," Haru said. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

After Haru called the building desk to ask for some assistance and a cart, she sent a text message… possibly warning everyone not to show up in the lobby to meet them unless they wanted to potentially explain themselves to Sae.

The drop-off loop for the building was by the same main entrance they generally used when arriving on foot, so no surprises there. The man waiting for them looked a bit like a hotel porter, and the cart he had looked a lot like a hotel luggage cart. Makoto wondered how often such things were needed. Groceries had to get up to luxury condos somehow, she guessed…

Sae turned off the car and got out to help move bags from the trunk to the cart, or at least supervise — the porter person probably would have done it all himself if Haru hadn't grabbed the Metaverse tote. Finally, she gave Makoto a careful hug. "You get better and stay safe, Makoto. That's what's most important."

Makoto hugged back. "…You too, Sis. Stay safe, I mean. And, um… good luck, I guess? With your case?"

Sae's smile was brittle.

"Well," Haru said after Sae had driven away. "That certainly is… something."

That was one way of putting it.

The porter had apparently done his job delivering the cart, and didn't accompany them into the elevator. Which was just as well, since when the doors opened on Haru's floor they were greeted with a chorus of "Makoto!" and "what _happened_?" Futaba, Yusuke, Hifumi, Goro—

"You guys!" Haru said, exasperated. "I didn't give you the all-clear — Niijima-san could have been here!"

"No she couldn't, we saw her drive away," Futaba said. "What the _hell_ , Haru, you said she was _fine_?"

"No, I said she would _be_ fine — come on, give her space— Yusuke, help me steer this. Did all of you come out in the hall wearing my guest slippers?"

"It's just the _hall_ , it's got carpet—"

And Haru somehow efficiently herded Futaba, Yusuke, and Hifumi back towards the door to the Okumura home, with the luggage cart, leaving Makoto and Goro quickly behind.

Goro was already frowning (better than fake-smiling, though). "…What's going on?"

"I wanted to talk to you in private because I remembered the other timeline," Makoto said bluntly, as the door didn't quite close behind the others — looked like the cart had been left holding it open.

"…Ah." His expression got flatter, but it still wasn't a fake-smile.

"I don't — it would be naive to think it won't change anything, but I don't _want_ it to change anything. You're a very important friend to me, and I've really appreciated how much you've let me in when I had — have, really — no real understanding of where you're coming from, and I don't — I'd like not to lose that."

Goro heaved a very deep sigh. "I've been — I knew it was a — I've been thinking about — yeah. I — would also like things not to change. As much as that's possible."

That was — a good sign. "If it won't make you too uncomfortable I don't think it should be too bad. I wasn't happy about the murdering obviously but Future Evil You bothered me the most when he was being… when he was playing the charming detective prince and being _subtly_ nasty."

"…Akira said something about that, too," Goro muttered, almost too quietly to hear. "I guess I already knew Pleasant Goro doesn't hold up well under close scrutiny…"

She decided not to ask. "Should we go on in? I wonder whether Haru has managed to actually explain anything to the others."

"I wouldn't bet on it." He pulled the door open and nudged the cart out of the way. "After you."

Haru took a half-step out of the kitchen as they entered. "Everything okay?"

Goro flushed a bit. "…Yeah."

"We're good," Makoto said. "…Except I should probably sit down soon." It had sort of snuck up on her, but walking was getting… increasingly uncomfortable. Ow.

"Everyone's in the usual place, go on back, I'm just putting together some lunch!"

Futaba, Yusuke, and Hifumi — and Kana-chan — were in the 'home entertainment center'/secret headquarters. (Makoto wasn't sure if "celestial castle of arcane mystery" was supposed to refer to the entire house or the secret headquarters specifically.) Makoto's bags were not. Straight to the guest room, maybe?

Futaba was on her phone, but when they stepped in she redirected her attention immediately. "What was that about?"

"Haru didn't explain?" Goro asked, rather than answer.

"She just showed us where to put the bags then said she was going to see about lunch and we should sit," Hifumi said.

Aaaaaand that meant she hadn't said anything. Why was Makoto the only one with any ability to be _moderate_ in sharing information?

Makoto eased into a chair (ow) and rubbed her temples (ow).

"You really don't look very good," Futaba said.

"…I should probably lie down for a while after lunch," Makoto conceded. "Lots of rest."

"Uh-huh. What _happened_?"

"Well, I'm not sure," Makoto said. "I don't remember most of yesterday — due to the concussion, they said. I got to Shuujin, but — well, you know that already. Thank you for getting my things. Although if someone could go check my locker for my street shoes and coat that would be great. Or I guess Haru did that." She was getting off track. "So I don't know exactly what happened, or remember anything at all until this evening, but all _this_ is the result of falling — probably jumping — out of a moving car."

There was a chorus of shocked exclamations. Goro looked impressed.

"When?" Futaba asked, heading straight for the point. "And where?"

"A little before two, and Shinjuku."

"…Huh. That's…"

"Yes."

"Sae-san was obviously very concerned, too," Haru said, appearing with a tray of combini sandwiches. (Had she just had those in the kitchen?) "She agreed Mako-chan should stay here because we have good building security and she hasn't been able to arrange police protection."

"Ew, police," Futaba said.

"Yes, but when the police aren't offering protection after the apparent failed kidnapping of a _prosecutor's_ teenage sister, something shady is going on," Haru said.

Futaba made another scrunched-up face, but nodded. "Do you have a guess what's going on?"

"Well—" Makoto cleared her throat. "The thing is, I _do_ remember the last timeline, now—"

"You _what_ —"

"Why didn't you start with that—"

Makoto plowed onward. "So… it really has to be Kaneshiro, doesn't it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Echoes in the Void chapter 6:
>
>> "While we're waiting," Makoto said. "I am about seventy-five percent sure Sis has corroborated that tip about Prosecutor Maeda and is pursuing it further."
>> 
>> They'd (very anonymously) provided two tips to Makoto's sister, one of them about a prosecutor who'd been engaged in some rather odd real estate transactions and the other… "Maeda was the one taking bribes from the yakuza, right?"
> 
> medjed chapter 1:
>
>> Queen: 99% sure the Maeda case is actually going somewhere  
> Crow: Oh?  
> Queen: Sis said she's starting a potentially sensitive and high-profile case  
> Queen: …And asked me not to answer any questions anyone asked about what she was working on but never mind that part.
> 
> medjed chapter 3:
>
>> CountessMonteCristo: We talked to the secretary's Shadow. Maeda has been charged and is as good as ruined, everyone is very shocked he's so corrupt, it's going well.  
> QueenOfExams: But Sis IS more stressed, because she got good attention for this but she also got put in charge of trying to follow up on all the Maeda-yakuza ties and it's high pressure.
> 
> And then the Kana situation got more acute and everyone got distracted... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 


	2. Terms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Note 2/10/2021: Retcondo complete_

When she'd first started thinking about why she hadn't remembered when Haru, Yusuke, and Futaba all did, she'd been afraid it wouldn't be possible without Sae getting a Palace. Haru's father had a Palace, Futaba's mother had a Palace, Yusuke's guardian had a Palace — Sae had had a Palace in the future. Obvious, right? She'd concluded that she'd just have to live without her future memories, then, since she was _not_ going to let Sae end up with a Palace.

("Enough eyeshadow to smother a hamster," _really_?)

Then they'd had the detailed discussion about the future, and about what they'd done so far, and _actually_ , Futaba's mother hadn't had a Palace last time that they knew of. Futaba had had a Palace instead. And Futaba hadn't remembered the same way as the other two — they'd both gotten everything back at once, but for her it was gradual. So the three cases weren't all the same, and it probably wasn't the parent/guardian connection.

But — Yusuke had originally awakened his Persona in Madarame's Palace, and he was living with Madarame. Haru had awakened hers in her father's Palace, and she was living with Kunikazu. Futaba had awakened hers in her own Palace, and she was… well, obviously she was living with herself, but she'd only _fully_ remembered after her mother almost died, and her Palace had a lot to do with her mother's death. So, maybe regaining your other-timeline memories depended on the person whose Palace you awakened your Persona in before!

…Which for Makoto, was some crime boss she'd never heard of. How _random_. But here they were.

They'd never discussed memory triggers as a group, so she hadn't gotten anyone else's input on this. But—

"Yeah, if you're remembering — yeah," Futaba said, and slumped back in her chair. "Great. Just the complication we needed now. Nice to have your memories back, though, Makoto."

"…Thanks."

"All right," Haru said. "We need to figure out why exactly Kaneshiro was kidnapping Mako-chan, what is going on with Sae-san's case, why the police were being so unhelpful _to a prosecutor_ … And I suppose first on _my_ agenda is making sure the security really is adequate."

"I can make sure Kaneshiro's Palace is where we're expecting it to be," Yusuke offered.

"I'll see if Mom and Sojiro have any insight on the whole… police thing," Futaba said. "I mean, I'm guessing it's 'Kaneshiro has cops on payroll'? Or something like that anyway. But I might not be looking at it the right way."

"I'll go talk to Niijima-san's Shadow in Chemdah," Goro said.

"All good ideas," Haru said. "Especially talking to Sae-san's Shadow, I'm sure she was keeping things back. Hifumi, what do you want to do this afternoon?"

"I'll go with Yusuke?" Hifumi said.

Makoto was going to have to make sure Hifumi knew she could safely spend her free time at Haru's, too — she'd rejected it as a suggestion before because, she'd said, Kana-chan's situation was so much _worse_ it made her feel like she was trivializing—

Kana-chan was here. Sitting right next to Futaba.

Where they'd been talking about — wait, what did Kana-chan already know? Had — no one had said anything, maybe—

"And I think Mako-chan really needs to go lie down now," Haru said, sounding concerned. "They emphasized rest…"

"Yes," Makoto admitted. "But, um, before I do…" Words, she knew words. "We should, um. Kana-chan. We need to tell Kana-chan not to tell Yusuke's senpai about, about timelines and future… um. Things. Memories."

She couldn't focus on everyone's faces well enough to read their expressions, but Haru sighed. "I'd been hoping we could pass that off as a misunderstanding, but yes, we are trying not to say anything about timelines to Kiyomi-san and Hitoshi-san. Mako-chan, let me show you the guest room."

Haru explained that while Kana had been staying in the guest room, for the night at least Kana would be sleeping in Haru's room and Haru would be taking a futon in the guest room, in case Makoto needed anything overnight. Makoto attempted to protest — that really wasn't necessary — but was ignored.

The guest bed was nice, at least.

* * *

_**medjed: can hack ur brain** _

prometheus_unbound: crow are you in mementos yet?

Fuguetive: …No. Why?

prometheus_unbound: mom has some theories about how saes acting and thinks she might be able to help with interviewing the shadow

prometheus_unbound: i think shes probably right?

Fuguetive: …That does seem logical.

prometheus_unbound: but we arent going to get out there this afternoon

prometheus_unbound: is there any reason not to interview a shadow two days in a row?

Fuguetive: I've never tried it.

Fuguetive: …

Fuguetive: Apparently Niijima-san's Shadow dropped down to Kaitul sometime in the last forty-eight hours, and I agreed no solo interviews below Chemdah, so I'll wait and join you tomorrow.

prometheus_unbound: yikes

prometheus_unbound: better make it first thing tomorrow in case this is going to be a trend

Fuguetive: I can be there at eight.

prometheus_unbound: ugh

prometheus_unbound: i guess wed better

ArtFox: Kaneshiro's Palace is the same as it was last timeline.

CountessMonteCristo: Oh, good!

ArtFox: No, because you have to be or be with a "customer" to get in.

CountessMonteCristo: …

prometheus_unbound: oh right that

prometheus_unbound: i wasnt there for that but im sure someone told me

prometheus_unbound: kaneshiro is so forgettable it slipped my mind

prometheus_unbound: being a customer meant owing him money right?

ArtFox: I'm not sure of the exact requirements? I think that was at least approximately the idea.

prometheus_unbound: uuggghhhhhh this is going to be a pain

CountessMonteCristo: Hmmm, surely ONE of us can manage it…

Fuguetive: I realize I'm the obvious choice here but I'd prefer to avoid it.

CountessMonteCristo: No, no, you keep up the honest student life thing. I'll do it.

ShogiNinja: But if he has people watching Makoto he'd know you're connected, wouldn't he?

Fuguetive: And Niijima-san might notice.

CountessMonteCristo: …

CountessMonteCristo: Good point.

ArtFox: I suppose I could seek a loan? That would be believable. 

prometheus_unbound: that would probably work?

prometheus_unbound: at least until kiyomi-senpai killed you and then all of us

ArtFox: Hmmmm

ShogiNinja: I could try?

CountessMonteCristo: Thank you for volunteering but Yusuke looking for a loan is more plausible 

prometheus_unbound: aaaaaaaaand from what i remember of what kaneshiro got up to probably safer too

prometheus_unbound: at least until kiyomi-senpai found out

Fuguetive: You know that's not a guarantee, right? Probably it's not the same risk. Not definitely.

ArtFox: I'm not following.

CountessMonteCristo: …

CountessMonteCristo: Let's see what Sae-san's Shadow has to say tomorrow.

* * *

Makoto got up in the evening (ow) long enough to eat some soup for supper and take her overnight pain meds, then went right back to bed; in the morning she woke up in a lot of pain but much clearer-headed. They hadn't been kidding about the importance of rest. She would have to be conscientious about that. Anything to make the concussion heal faster.

She wanted a shower, but had to settle for a sponge bath (ow) and dry shampoo. The abrasions couldn't heal soon enough, either.

She should have just asked Sae why no stronger pain medication.

Makoto joined Haru and Kana for breakfast in the open dining area next to the kitchen. "I assume your father's gone to work already?" she asked.

Haru rolled her eyes. "My _father_ is in some nameless corner of the United States making sure Okumura Foods is doing business with ethical soybean suppliers, but actually he's avoiding… I'm not sure what he thinks he's avoiding dealing with exactly, but he's avoiding something. He's been gone a few weeks now."

"Oh," Makoto said, surprised. Wait, Haru had said something about him being flustered, hadn't she? "That's… I'm sorry, Haru. I thought—"

"Oh, no, it's not a problem!" Haru said. "He calls to talk to me every night, now! Before — you know, he could be away for weeks at a time and I'd mostly get check-in calls from a secretary. And I have to admit this is… convenient, for us."

(Makoto wondered what this said about the potential distribution of Haru's theoretical half-siblings, but decided not to bring it up.)

"We didn't get a whole lot done yesterday," Haru said as they ate. "Talking to your sister's Shadow got put off until today, and you can't get into the bank without a… business relationship, was it? Yusuke was a little vague."

Oh, right, that. "Our _understanding_ of it was a little vague… do you have a plan?"

"Not an entire one. The obvious solution would be for one of us to establish a business relationship, but… Goro's not really in a position to take risks like that. I could, but it could be a risk to Okumura Foods, and anyway Kaneshiro will have realized we're connected if he's having you watched at all. There's Yusuke, it would be plausible for him to be looking for a loan, but…"

"I don't think Kiyomi-senpai-san would like that very much," Kana said tentatively.

"No, she wouldn't, and also I'm… concerned about what we'd be sending him into. Getting involved with a loan shark is one thing, but from everything I've heard about Kaneshiro… I certainly wouldn't send an orphaned, broke, spacey _girl_ —" Haru broke off, glancing at Kana.

Kana rolled her eyes. "I'm not a baby. This mob guy bullies girls into being prostitutes and you think he might do it to boys, too."

Makoto wasn't at all sure she'd have been able to draw that conclusion at Kana's age — in fact she was fairly sure she wouldn't have, considering how shocked about… everything she'd been when she came up against Kaneshiro. She elected not to mention this. 

"I don't think we should send Yusuke," she said instead. "I might have access already?"

"You think he sees you as a customer? I thought you didn't remember?"

"I don't, and not a customer — the only reason for kidnapping me that makes sense is leverage on Sis, and that doesn't make me a customer, but it makes me an _asset_. Something the bank wants to hold on to."

"I see," Haru said. "I… hadn't thought about it that way, but — hmm."

"It's worth a try," Makoto said. She'd been hoping for a little more enthusiasm.

"Not before your concussion is healed," Haru said.

"I shouldn't try to _do_ anything with the concussion, but just _going_ there—"

" _No_."

Makoto was guessing the story would be _very different_ if _Haru_ was the one with a concussion. Although to be fair, Makoto would be taking the same position Haru was now, in those circumstances.

Haru's phone vibrated where it lay on the table. Makoto had to force herself not to try to read it.

"Are Futaba and everyone back from the subway?" Kana asked.

"No, it's Yusuke. He says Kiyomi-senpai talked to Hifumi's parents on the phone but isn't sure how much good it did. And that Kiyomi-senpai thinks Hifumi's mother is 'creepy'." The phone vibrated again. "Hifumi wants to know how creepy relative to _Self-Portrait as a Cognition_. I'm not sure I see this conversation going anywhere productive." She set the phone back on the table.

"Can I see?" Kana asked. Haru slid the phone over to her.

Hmm. "So, um…" How to phrase this tactfully? "Do we need to be concerned about further information leak accusations…?" For basically letting Kana in on things?

Haru shook her head. "We talked about it yesterday and decided that at this point trying to keep Kana-chan in the dark would be silly — especially when Wakaba-san and Sojiro-san are in the loop."

Makoto hoped someone had mentioned to Kana that Wakaba and Sojiro were not supposed to know about the group chat contents, and wondered if she ought to mention it herself. "Goro didn't…?"

"Goro didn't have any objections, other than emphasizing not revealing his or my identity to Futaba's family, which would have been an issue anyway. The only real pushback was Yusuke demanding indemnification for anything else he tells his senpai."

Fair enough, Makoto guessed.

"I'm just observing, don't worry about me," Kana said. "I think Hifumi-san made a mistake — Yusuke-kun asked Kiyomi-senpai-san about how creepy Hifumi-san's mother was relative to the painting, and Kiyomi-senpai-san wants to know why Hifumi-san's mother is considered comparable to a magic painting."

Haru rolled her eyes. "Hifumi's mother is definitely a bigger _problem_ than the magic painting because Hifumi's mother is _escalating_. The timing is terrible. Do you have any ideas what her distortion is?"

Makoto shrugged (ow). "I had a bunch of shogi-related ideas which were apparently the wrong track. Hifumi said something about thinking it would have something to do with television, right? And that she had some ideas. Has she still not checked them?"

"Not that she's mentioned." Haru sighed. "I think she's still feeling conflicted because, well…"

Because there _was_ a Palace, when there hadn't been last time, and it wasn't Hifumi's fault _morally_ — Makoto would argue that all day if she had to — but you really couldn't get around the causal relationship.

Some people just couldn't handle being told 'no'.

"Hmm," Makoto agreed. "Are we going to be able to put off dealing with it until after Kaneshiro?"

"I hope so," Haru said. "I _really_ hope so. I would rather not have to do two Palaces simultaneously again."

Not that they had access to _either_ at the moment…

* * *

_**medjed: can hack ur brain** _

prometheus_unbound: ok we talked to saes shadow

prometheus_unbound: she also thinks its kaneshiro but the situation is apparently more complicated than we realized

CountessMonteCristo: ???

prometheus_unbound: um

prometheus_unbound: hmm

prometheus_unbound: well

Fuguetive: Short version is that Niijima-san thinks her boss set her up to be targeted because he doesn't like that she did the anti-corruption work.

prometheus_unbound: yeah that

Fuguetive: The anti-corruption work we put her on the trail of.

CountessMonteCristo: Oh dear.

Fuguetive: Yeah.

CountessMonteCristo: I knew that was a risk if we targeted any direct Shido connections but I didn't think it would be an issue with the organized crime person.

Fuguetive: Yeah.

Fuguetive: I guess either he's so corrupt himself he's afraid any anti-corruption investigation will get him found out or else he doesn't think prosecutors should ever prosecute other prosecutors.

prometheus_unbound: or both

Fuguetive: Probably both

CountessMonteCristo: Oh dear.

ShogiNinja: …

ShogiNinja: You mean we did this?

CountessMonteCristo: No, Director Uchiyama did this.

Fuguetive: Because of something we did.

CountessMonteCristo: Sae-san is better equipped to predict his behavior and SHE didn't see this coming or she probably wouldn't have done the investigation, so it's understandable we didn't, either.

CountessMonteCristo: It's just an unfortunate situation.

prometheus_unbound: thats one way of putting it

prometheus_unbound: sae-san is hoping if she wins all the anti-yakuza cases she'll have the leverage she needs to… something

prometheus_unbound: also if the cases are done they won't want hostages anymore

Fuguetive: Basically she's hoping winning the cases will fix the problem somehow.

Fuguetive: Wakaba-san thinks Niijima-san is right about the setup, but thinks if this doesn't work the boss will just try something else

ArtFox: So is the key problem Kaneshiro or Sae-san's boss?

prometheus_unbound: yes

ArtFox: …

prometheus_unbound: i KNOW thats the PROBLEM

CountessMonteCristo: Does Sae-san think her boss is actively conspiring with Kaneshiro?

prometheus_unbound: mom asked about that too. sae-san thinks not, that he just put her in a position where shed be targeted

ArtFox: Is that good or bad?

ShogiNinja: For our purposes bad, right? Because we won't be able to get them both at once

prometheus_unbound: right

Fuguetive: And we need to get both of them, unless winning the cases really would make this yakuza person cut his losses and back off?

ArtFox: I can't say he definitely wouldn't but I certainly wouldn't count on it.

Fuguetive: That's what I thought

Fuguetive: If we don't take down Kaneshiro he'll keep coming after Makoto for leverage or revenge no matter what happens with the director

Fuguetive: If we don't take down the director and Kaneshiro backs off the director will just try something else

CountessMonteCristo: …

prometheus_unbound: goro says you guys already got into the directors palace, which is better than we are with the bank right now unless weve come up with a way for inari to play bait without awakening the wrath of kiyomi-senpai

ArtFox: …

CountessMonteCristo: Mako-chan thinks she might be able to get into the bank without any additional interaction, and I think we should probably try that first, once she's Metaverse-ready.

ArtFox: That would be nice.

prometheus_unbound: mom has lots of advice about avoiding the metaverse with a concussion which she would totally not follow herself

ShogiNinja: So… do we try to do the director's Palace?

Fuguetive: I'm in favor.

prometheus_unbound: definitely check it out at least

CountessMonteCristo: …I'm going to be busy the rest of the day making sure home security is set up properly, but… it's a place to start, anyway.

* * *

Haru set the phone down and rubbed her eyes.

"Yes?" Makoto prompted. She didn't want to be too pushy, but Haru had given up simultaneously reading aloud and participating almost immediately.

Haru sighed. "Two Palaces is now the _optimistic_ scenario."

"…Um."

The explanation, unfortunately, made sense.

"I can't believe _we_ set Sis up to be targeted—" Makoto broke off when she tried to clench her hand on her tea mug and only aggravated some injuries (ow).

"Please don't, Mako-chan, I only just talked Goro down from saying it's our fault _you_ got targeted. We tried to be careful and we had no reason to believe he'd react so severely to such a clear-cut, tangentially related investigation."

"Unless it isn't a tangential relationship," Makoto said, instead of pointing out they couldn't get around the causal relationship here, either. "We know he was in league with Shido, but we don't actually know for sure he _didn't_ have other things going on…"

"Good point, we should look into that if we get a chance. It might be easier to pin him down for that, too." Haru sighed again. "If I'm going to be going to the _circus_ tomorrow, I'd better get on the security question."

'Getting on the security question' apparently involved making a number of phone calls then vanishing into the home office. Makoto wished she could watch the group chat or read a book, but conceded it was probably a better idea for her to lie (ow) on the couch in the home entertainment center and rest. Kana kept her company, occasionally reading aloud from the texts Futaba was sending. (Futaba was supposedly unpacking. Considering how many messages she was sending Makoto wasn't surprised she still wasn't done.)

Haru came back with a pile of printouts; she'd gotten the doorman to tell her which housekeeping staff were scheduled for the rest of the week, and had looked them all up on social media to get their pictures so Makoto and/or Kana could identify any imposters. Makoto made a game attempt to follow as Haru went through the list, but an hour later she found she couldn't remember a name or a face.

"I. _Hate_. Concussions," Makoto said. "I'm going to take a nap."

Haru woke her up a few hours later for supper, meds, and a discussion of the plan for tomorrow.

The plan for tomorrow was reportedly mostly worked out in the group chat while she was napping, though not — according to Kana — without a lengthy digression of everyone needling one another about housekeeping standards. It wasn't detailed enough to have required much discussion, Makoto didn't think. All of them except Makoto would be going to the circus Palace, seeing what Hypatia made of it, seeing how tough the Shadows were — the usual early-exploration stuff. Makoto would be staying at Haru's, with Kana as her quote-unquote reading-phone-minion. Kana would also be standing ready to call Sojiro in the hopefully unlikely event any goons showed up, and he would show up to help in the hopefully-unlikelier event of the goons not being put off by building security (who had been advised there might be an issue, although not what exactly it was).

Clearly Makoto was going to be getting to know Kana better. She wondered how much Futaba had actually explained to Sojiro.

"Oh," Haru said as they finished eating. "Also, your sister called to check on you, but said not to wake you."

Of course she had. "Wake me anyway next time. How did she sound?"

Haru shrugged slightly. "Stressed, but she usually sounds stressed to me."

Ha, right. "Ugh, I just hope all this doesn't make _her_ Palace develop."

"Her Shadow dropped from Chemdah to Kaitul sometime yesterday or the day before, but it hasn't moved since then," Haru said.

"…I guess that's reassuring."

Haru helped her change the bandages (ow), and she went to bed early.

* * *

She dreamed of sitting in Leblanc while it rained blood outside, Akira across from her. She knew if she could just finish the Moon Burger in front of her then her head would stop hurting and she'd be able to think enough to have a conversation, but just looking at the burger was nauseating. Akira held up a hand like he'd had an idea and waved to a server.

The server floated over without releasing either of her swords. Makoto had had no idea Akira's Personas got part-time jobs, too. She would have thought food service would have a stricter dress code, though.

After a few words with Akira, the Persona disappeared into the kitchen and returned shortly with a dango stick's worth of devil fruit; she gave it to Akira, who passed it to Makoto.

It helped, a little. She pushed the burger aside. "I hate backfiring things," she said.

"It's hard to play the game when you can't see the board," Akira replied.

"And now I'm grounded and I can't see _anything_ ," Makoto said. "I hate being sidelined."

Akira slumped down in the booth. "You and me both."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ([The new wait staff](https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Cybele#Persona_5), if you're wondering.)


	3. Credit Freeze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Important note, Feb 20 2021:** I have been VERY lazy writing about Haru's home and just made them live in a mansion even though the Okumuras are new money, IN TOKYO, and should obviously be living in a luxury condo. They are now living in a luxury condo. (Also it doesn't have a formal dining room.) Changes reflecting this have been made in CoMC, EitV, medjed, and the first two chapters of Collateral. I don't think going and rereading everything is strictly necessary? But be aware that: the Celestial Castle of Arcane Mystery is now a high-rise luxury condo; the Okumuras do not have live-in servants, they have the building doorman and housekeeping staff (and still drivers); Kunikazu has explicitly invented a business trip to avoid having to deal with Kana being there but calls Haru every night; the secret headquarters has always been the "home entertainment center".

Makoto saw Haru off in the morning (after another change of bandages, ow), and then decided to go back to sleep on the theory that she'd be less anxious about everyone's safety and frustrated about being grounded if she was asleep. It worked really well for a few hours, but then someone brought in a giant dental drill and began boring a hole directly into the side of her head.

Or, she realized after flailing awake, throwing the sheets off, and smacking one of her bandaged hands on the wall (ow, ow, _ow_ ), someone was running a vacuum cleaner in the apartment. Condo. Celestial Castle of Arcane Mystery. Whatever.

She stumbled out of the guest room with her hands over her ears, not sure what she was planning to do — possibly beg for mercy — but fortunately Kana was practically right outside.

Kana said something which the vacuum, her hands over her ears, and the pounding of her head colluded to make completely unintelligible. When Makoto just stared at her, Kana took her arm (ow) and tugged her over into the secret headquarters, and closed the door.

That was a little better.

"I think this room is… relatively soundproof in case someone wanted to watch loud movies," Kana said. "Or something. Do you think you should sit down…?"

"Probably," Makoto said, and did so. "Is that— Obviously that's housekeeping."

Kana waved Haru's stack of photo printouts. "I looked and I'm… pretty sure they are who they're supposed to be?"

Makoto would have offered to check herself, but she didn't think she'd be able to focus on the paper, let alone the people — even if they turned the vacuum off first. She tried to find a comfortable position. Her head hurt. "How… I mean, do you know how… actually worried we are, about someone coming here?"

Kana shrugged. "Futaba said probably no one will, but I'm not sure if it was a… ninety percent probably not or a sixty percent probably not? Does that make sense?"

"I think so," Makoto said. "I'll have to ask if they have anything more solid than that…" How would they, though? She sighed. "Have we heard anything?"

"From Futaba and everyone? No, but it's not even lunchtime. Sojiro-san sent a text message asking how we're doing. I said fine so far."

Still not even lunchtime. Which also meant it wasn't time for more pain meds.

"…I'm going to lie down on the couch and put a pillow over my head and see if I can go back to sleep."

She'd expected it to be kind of a long shot, but when she opened her eyes again the vacuum noise was gone and her head was clearer. She wasn't sure how much of that improvement was due to the lack of vacuum.

Kana was curled up in one of the armchairs, with a phone, a large hardcover book, and — Makoto squinted (ow) — yes, a pad of sticky notes and a pen. Haru had mentioned this.

Kana hadn't packed very much, when she left her parents' apartment for Haru's house. But she _had_ packed two large, full-color, coffee-table-type, _English-language_ books. Kana's English wasn't good enough for reading them to be easy, so when she had time she would type confusing parts into online translators and write the translations on sticky notes.

One of the books was mainly an English translation of the ancient Egyptian book of the dead, with lots of annotations and photographs. She'd already had the book the previous year before she and Futaba had stopped talking — it was cute, that they had a shared interest in Egyptology.

The _other_ book was about deep-sea life. Unfortunately it also had many photographs. The front cover featured a "goblin shark", which was a photograph and not a magic painting and definitely did not have eyes that followed you around the room.

No one had a shared interest in deep-sea life.

(Goro had speculated to Haru and Makoto that it wasn't a coincidence that Kana's newer interest was highly unphotogenic. …Not that any of them were _certain_ there wasn't a thriving market for photos of girls in sexy hatchetfish costumes, and none of them were willing to look into it, but it had to be rarer than ancient Egypt.)

She didn't think she made any noise, but Kana still looked up. "Oh, you're awake!"

"More or less," Makoto said, moving carefully to sit up (ow). "Any developments?"

"We still haven't heard anything, but it _is_ time for lunch now," Kana said. "And pain medication, according to Haru-san's schedule. I can go get that — both of those — do you need a hand to the powder room first…?"

"I think I can stagger on my own, thanks."

And she could! It was definitely time for more pain meds, though.

Makoto made it back to the secret headquarters before Kana returned — she wasn't sure if there was a reason they weren't eating in the dining area, but she wasn't going to argue about it. Kana distributed sandwiches, bottles of juice, and delivered Makoto's pills with great focus.

"How are you feeling?" Kana asked, after she took the lunch dishes back to the kitchen. (Hopefully to the dishwasher and not the Dish Graveyard which Haru tended to accumulate on the counter, but that wasn't really Makoto's problem.) "You look a little better than yesterday, I think?"

Makoto shrugged carefully (still ow). "Sore, still. Tired. Possibly better than yesterday." She _hoped_ better than yesterday. "…How are you?"

Kana blinked. "I'm fine?"

"Everything going all right with, um… getting ready to move?"

"Oh, I thought you meant— Right. That's… fine. Wakaba-san and Sojiro-san seem nice." Kana chewed her lip. "Though, um, do you know if they, uh…" She trailed off and made a vague gesture. "Futaba hasn't said, and I don't want to ask, but…"

Makoto wondered if that would have made sense if her head hurt less. "Sorry, I'm not following?"

"Oh, um…" Kana made another vague gesture. "Are Wakaba-san and Sojiro-san… they're not married, but…"

"Oh!" Makoto said, getting it. "Are they _together_ , you mean." Wasn't that just the question.

"Yes. That."

"No. Well, sort of. Maybe." That was even less helpful than Kana's original question. "I mean, we think they were deliberately trying to give that impression to the conspiracy people so they'd think Wakaba-san was fully occupied with… family and relationship stuff, and not a threat to them."

…They'd told Kana about the conspiracy already, right? They must have told Kana about the conspiracy. She couldn't remember everyone agreeing to tell Kana about the conspiracy but they could hardly leave it out if she was going to live with the person the conspiracy had actively attempted to murder. Right?

…If they hadn't then Kana at least wasn't going to mention it so Makoto could pretend they had. Fine.

"Futaba was going to ask if it was real?" Makoto continued. "But I'm not sure she ever did? She hasn't said. When I talked to them together, they weren't acting… couple-like, but…" But they'd been talking about the ethics of changes of heart, and not-so-hypothetical bad situations, and other serious things. "It wasn't really a… social situation. And Yusuke had dinner at their house, but he said he had no idea when Haru asked. Hifumi isn't sure either, so…" She shrugged (ow). "I'm afraid you'd have to ask Futaba, and I'm not sure she knows, either."

"…Huh."

* * *

Later in the afternoon, Kana woke Makoto from another nap with the information the expedition was out of the Metaverse and everyone but Wakaba would be returning to the Celestial Castle of Arcane Mystery.

"Did they say how it went?" Makoto asked.

"Just that everyone was fine," Kana said.

Well, that was better than the alternative at least, but it was still not an adequate status update. Kana went to hover by the front door, but _Kana_ could stand up and sit down without hissing. Makoto sat in suspense and tried not to pick at her bandages until they _finally_ arrived.

"—Can all agree that while those are _technically_ multi-story tents, it's only in a broad sense of 'tent' and a _circus_ tent should not have multiple floors," Goro was saying as he came in, Futaba on his heels and Kana right behind her. "Hello, Makoto."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Futaba replied. "Hi Makoto. Haru stopped to talk to the lobby desk guy, Yusuke and Hifumi are out in the living room calling Kiyomi-senpai — she left a message while we were in the Metaverse, I guess she got some sort of weird call from Hifumi's mother?"

That couldn't be good. They really didn't need any more escalation there. But for the moment— "How was the circus?"

Futaba snorted. "He's given his circus tents multiple floors and walkways between them, and apparently there's something called a _bear pit_ which does not sound like it belongs in a circus to _me_."

"There's a _sideshow_ ," Goro added.

"Yeah, so we'll probably get to see what the _SIU Director_ thinks counts as a _freak_ , what _fun_.

"…Lovely."

"On the practical side, I don't think it's as big as the laboratory," Goro said. "But it's not small, either. The Shadows are on the strong side."

"Mostly casino-level or worse," Futaba specified. "So poor Hifumi is underleveled again and Mom needs to be _careful_ , she's resistant to everything, not immune."

"Wonderful," Makoto said.

"And his Shadow didn't show up to rant at us," Goro said. "I was really hoping it would, so I could try some questions."

Futaba raised a finger. "But it's not all bad news! The organ music got a lot quieter past the first area."

"Right, yeah, that's… that was good. That's not nothing."

"It's not," Makoto agreed. But still.

"I'm home!" Haru called, presumably from the front door.

"That didn't take long," Futaba said. "I guess he didn't have anything to say?"

Haru's arm arrived in the secret headquarters long enough to drop off her own Metaverse bag. "Just a minute, I'm getting some drinks, does everyone want their usual—?" And then a minute later she was back, with a tray. "Mako-chan, Kana-chan, how did it go?"

 _Boring_. "I was mostly asleep," Makoto replied.

"Fine," Kana said. "Quiet. We think? There wasn't anything, right?"

"No, no one noticed anything whatsoever," Haru confirmed. "Which hopefully means there wasn't anything. I just don't want to relax too much…" How long was Haru going to try to stay on guard? Until they cleared the Palaces? However long Makoto was staying with her? Indefinitely? "Did Goro and Futaba bring you up to speed on what we found in the circus?"

"I think we covered the key points," Futaba said.

"Not much good news there, I guess," Makoto said.

"No. I didn't really think there was going to be some shortcut we could find, but — it would have been nice."

"Are you going to try to push ahead exploring the circus?" Makoto asked.

Goro answered. "We need to talk it over with everyone — including Isshiki-san — but I think so. Make as much progress as we can before school starts Monday."

 _Shit_.

Makoto sat bolt upright ( _ow_ ). "Wait, what's today? How many days until school?"

"…It's Thursday," Futaba said. "But you're not going, right?"

"Of _course_ I'm—" Makoto tried to stand up a little too forcefully and wound up sitting right back down. Ow. "I have to go."

"You can barely _stand_ —" Futaba objected.

"I just took it too fast—"

"You are definitely not going to the institution you got _kidnapped out of_ when you can't even _see_ straight," Haru interrupted.

"But it's the start of—"

"Sae-san _said_ you should avoid Shuujin," Haru said firmly. "You're still concussed and covered in giant abrasions. They _will_ excuse you, even if it's start of the term."

Right, Sae _had_ said something about that… "I want to talk to her about it."

"That's probably a good idea," Haru agreed. "But you are _not_ going to Shuujin on Monday."

Haru was probably right, but Makoto didn't have to admit it just yet. "Won't Kana have school, too?"

Kana made a face. "I guess. I should probably get moved in with Futaba's family properly by Monday, you think?"

"Probably," Futaba said. "Out of idle curiosity, what does everyone think would happen if I left some boxes of stuff in the Metaverse?"

Before anyone could try to tackle that, Yusuke appeared. "We have an idea," he proclaimed.

"I don't think we do," Hifumi argued, following him in less dramatically.

"What did Kiyomi-senpai-san say?" Kana asked.

"Togo-san," Yusuke said, "reminded Kiyomi-senpai quite strongly of her grandparents. Not how they are with her, for her they just have _standards_ , but how they are with their children and _favorite_ grandchildren."

"I don't know how strongly she could have been reminded in a couple of phone calls—" Hifumi protested.

"She said the ambitions were obviously different, but not the attitude — that the child is just a vehicle for the parents' ambitions."

Oh. _Ooooohhhh_. That suggested a whole new array of potential Palaces.

…Which weren't coming to mind at the moment. Damn concussions.

" _Interesting_ ," Futaba said.

"Very interesting," Haru said. "Did Kiyomi-san say anything to make you think Hifumi's mother is escalating more, though?"

"There were some questions about artist's models, but Kiyomi-senpai thinks she put her off," Yusuke said.

"She should ease off for a bit with school starting," Hifumi said. "The very start of high school — she wouldn't want to distract me, right?"

Makoto didn't think it was a good sign that Hifumi was the one asking that, but decided not to try to formulate a reply.

Haru didn't say anything for a minute. "…It depends on how certain you are that she doesn't want you to drop out."

"She doesn't — I don't _think_ she'd want— No, she wouldn't want me to _fail_ , I don't think? That's not the right image at all." Hifumi nodded firmly. "Withdraw, maybe, but not fail."

"So we might have a few weeks' grace period with Togo-san," Haru said.

"We hope," Futaba added.

"We hope," Haru agreed. "So we still want to ID her Palace. But for now, we keep working on the circus, I think? As fast as we can manage safely?"

Leaving the bank for when Makoto was sufficiently recovered. She hoped she was right about having access as an _asset_. At least after they got in it should go fairly quickly?

(…Hopefully when she was less concussed she'd have better recall of the bank Palace details. Or else Yusuke remembered them.)

(…At least, even if they didn't remember the way, the fights shouldn't be bad relative to casino-level at the circus?)

"I'll talk to Mom, but I think that makes the most sense," Futaba agreed. The others nodded.

Makoto hesitated to make suggestions she wouldn't be able to help with, but, "Maybe check in on Sis's Shadow from time to time, too? Just to see if there are… developments." In the situation _or_ in Sae's Shadow.

She was still really hoping to avoid a Palace for Sae, this time.

* * *

Makoto honestly wasn't sure if, under the circumstances, Sae would answer a call from Makoto during official work hours — under ordinary circumstances she most likely wouldn't, though a text message would get read eventually. Under ordinary circumstances Makoto would have started calling early anyway, because multiple missed calls made Sae more likely to actually pick up later on when she was working overtime. But she didn't want to make a call Sae would feel she needed to answer immediately, because this _wasn't_ an emergency and Sae was clearly under enough scrutiny at the office already without taking personal calls.

So, she waited until after dinner to call — or, technically, have Kana call, since she still wasn't supposed to be looking at screens.

Sae picked up on the second ring. "Makoto, is everything all right?"

"It's not an emergency," Makoto said. "Do you have a few minutes?"

"Hmm, I should — you're not supposed to be using phones, Makoto!"

"I'm not supposed to be _looking at screens_ , someone else dialed for me, I'm not looking at it, it's on speaker," Makoto said.

"Well… good." There was a rustle. "How are you?"

How best to spin this… "Better. Everything still hurts, but there's no sign of infection and my head is spinning less."

"Have you remembered anything?"

Right, that. "No, Sis. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Even if you did—" Sae broke off, leaving Makoto wondering what she'd been about to say. "You just focus on recovering. I'll make you a doctor's appointment to make sure everything is healing properly — early next week, I think."

"That sounds good. Speaking of next week, though—"

"You can't go to school," Sae said immediately. "I've already told them you're out until you've recovered."

"Sis—"

"After the doctors say your concussion has healed I'll have the school send you some work so you can keep up, but you are _not_ going back there until — until it's safe."

Makoto could have argued, demanded Sae define what she meant by 'safe' (which was a good question actually), but— She'd been kidnapped out of Shuujin. She couldn't remember how, or where exactly, or by who. And she currently wasn't in a condition to fight, or run, or even _see trouble coming_.

"I want to discuss this again when I have a clean bill of health," she said instead. "Or if I remember what happened. But… you're right, Sis."

Damn it.

* * *

Friday was similar to Thursday. She slept a lot and talked to Kana about "vampire squid from hell". On the plus side, there was no morning visit from housekeeping and their brain-destroying demon vacuum, and by late afternoon Makoto was feeling well enough to get dressed in something besides sweatpants, but on the minus side everyone was apparently exhausted after the day's circus excursion and just went straight home to rest.

"It was this… tightrope-and-trapeze arrangement," Haru said, flopped down in the secret headquarters. "The Shadows weren't particularly challenging, but there was a lot of climbing and jumping onto _very small targets_. I'm not sure what would've happened if someone had fallen and I'm glad we didn't find out."

"Me, too," Makoto said. "…Was Wakaba-san up to that? Recovered enough, I mean?"

"Futaba had the same concern, but she managed all right with a little help." Haru shrugged, not sitting up straight. "Wakaba-san probably has a point that most of the rest of us aren't in the kind of shape to manage these sorts of endurance runs and jumps and so on in the real world, either, but I don't think that's going to make Futaba worry any less."

"It does suggest good things about how long it will take me to get back into action, though," Makoto said.

"Hmm, true… We should still wait until you get cleared on the concussion, though. I don't want to know what effect the cognitive world would have on a traumatic brain injury."

Considering the Metaverse's apparent worrying interaction with Goro's traumatic emotional problems, she was probably right. "Yes, yes, that."

"If we're not doing anything else," Kana said, "can you check the MetaNav for these ideas I had for Hifumi-san's mother's Palace?" She held up a list. It took up half a page.

(Makoto wondered if Kana was bothered by being stuck on the sidelines even after being let in on the secret. She didn't want to ask, because what if Kana hadn't _realized_ she could theoretically join the team, and Makoto gave her the idea, and then they had to either say no or have a real actual non-time-traveled middle school student on the team.)

(…Although Hifumi had been one, until recently. And Goro had been in middle school, when he started. So maybe age shouldn't be considered the major concern here. She still didn't see Futaba embracing the idea.)

Mitsuyo Togo's Palace turned out to be a "shipyard".

* * *

Saturday morning she managed a shower (ow, but still a relief), and replacing her own bandages except for the one on her back, which she still needed Haru's help with. She took a nap afterwards, but definitely progress!

Saturday's circus run ended early after, according to Haru, Wakaba threw a mockotov at a "dancing witch" before Futaba could advise everyone that it repelled gun attacks. No one was actually taken out even temporarily, but it was a near thing and they decided not to try to make the next safe room.

"We probably could have," Haru said. "But Wakaba-san was… very shaken up, and Futaba was upset, so we decided to call it. …Especially since they need to work on getting ready for Kana-chan anyway. The rest of us might go resource-gathering in Mementos this afternoon — maybe visit your sister's Shadow, while we're there. Then maybe shopping tomorrow, and Kana-chan is moving to Sojiro-san's house."

"Is Makoto-san going to be okay, when I'm gone and you're at school?" Kana asked.

Valid question, but Makoto was guessing that by Monday her head would be clear enough to ID the housekeeping staff herself — or just ask them not to come until some time Haru would be home? That seemed like it should be possible? The Dish Graveyard wasn't _that_ bad.

"Oh, I'm not going to school while Mako-chan's stuck here," Haru said matter-of-factly. "I need to get my father to call them with something."

What.

"Kobayakawa will probably accept anything my father says, but I'd like to give a _remotely_ plausible excuse," Haru went on. "Broken foot? Walking pneumonia? Is that a thing? It sounds good."

 _What_.

"Or say stomachache and let them assume some gastrointestinal unpleasantness—"

" _Haru you cannot just skip school until I am all better_!"

Haru waved a dismissive hand. "I've had the entire year already anyway."

"You've said yourself you don't _remember_ most of—"

"I'll get Goro to take notes so we don't miss anything important."

" _That's not going to_ —"

"Don't worry about it, Mako-chan."

Makoto made several more attempts to get Haru to take this _seriously_ , and failed, which was… frustrating. It wasn't that she expected Haru to be focused on grades or school, but she could at least be a little less cavalier about it!

"At least Goro's being sensible about this," she grumped finally.

"Well, obviously he has to keep up the honest student life," Haru said. "And Yusuke and Hifumi can't go skipping their _first week of high school_ , even if Yusuke's done it before. Futaba said she'd talk it over with you, Kana-chan, but then I think she mentioned it in front of her mother and Wakaba-san put her foot down."

"I _bet she did_."

(Sae's Shadow was still in Kaitul, Haru reported that evening, and didn't have any new information as far as Goro or Haru could figure out.)

* * *

Kana didn't have much to pack — more than when she'd arrived, but still just her backpack and a small suitcase. Makoto ventured as far as the lobby to see her off, Sunday morning (ow, but not as much as when _she'd_ arrived).

"I'm glad you can go stay with Futaba now, but I'll miss having you around," Makoto said. "You've been — a _huge_ help, the last week or so." Had made it _possible_ for the full team to start exploring the circus Palace.

"Thanks," Kana said. "I've liked — I'm glad I could help. I hope you feel better soon. Can I give you a hug?"

"Carefully, sure," Makoto said, touched. Kana was not a touch-y person, usually.

She waited in the lobby while Haru saw Kana out to Sojiro's car, waving back at Futaba through the glass doors. (Makoto hadn't heard any further updates on whether any still-packed boxes had been deposited in the Metaverse.) She wasn't _trying_ to listen in on the conversation between the people at the security desk, but they were _right_ there.

"That's the friend, and the driver is _possibly_ her stepfather. You see what I mean about the family being _eccentric_."

Hey!

"As long as she's safe and supported it's for the best, though. The younger Okumura-san is trying her best, but she shouldn't be expected to be a parent."

Damn right.

"I'm really impressed, though, how hard she's working to help her siblings. Much more decent than a lot of people in her situation would be. Even the boy!"

…Um.

"They do seem to be having terrible luck lately."

Wait.

"No, no, _she_ really is a friend from school."

Damn _right_.

"Still very decent of Okumura-san to help her out, though."

They fell silent as Haru came back — even though Makoto had, again, been _right there_ , had they thought her concussion did something to her hearing? Honestly.

"That's an interesting expression, Mako-chan," Haru said as they returned to the elevator. "Something on your mind?"

"…I don't think you want to know."

* * *

Sae called that evening, to say she'd scheduled a follow-up appointment for Makoto on Tuesday morning. She would be leaving work to accompany Makoto in the appointment, but wanted to know if the Okumuras had a trustworthy driver who could drop off and pick up Makoto at the hospital entrance. She'd drive herself if Makoto strongly preferred that, but she didn't want to bring Makoto through the hospital parking garage.

(Because of the walking distance involved. Of course. Definitely not because Sae was afraid Makoto might be kidnapped out of a parking garage, _in front of her_ , did that mean Sae had _seen_ threatening figures lurking around—)

"Hopefully they'll clear me for the concussion at least," she told Haru. "I feel a lot better."

"I hope so too, you seem a lot better," Haru said.

One effect of her head being clearer was that it felt _very_ strange not to be getting ready for school in the morning. But it was what it was.

Although— "Are you _sure_ I can't talk you into going to—"

" _No_ , Mako-chan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 2/25: I thought about putting together some links to the sorts of animals Kana is being enthusiastic about, but didn't, and then a few days later came across [this tumblr post with a whole bunch of them](https://ceescedasticity.tumblr.com/post/644105235031359489/sometimes-i-think-about-how-red-is-the-first-color). They're horrifying. Enjoy!
> 
> As usual, I may polish this later but probably won't.
> 
> In my opinion, some highlights of The Retcondo:
> 
>   * During the dinner rage fugue in CoMC, Tomioka-san does not run over a servant but instead runs out the front door without putting his shoes on.
>   * Chapter 5 of Echoes in the Void, more of a scene when Goro and Makoto first come over to Haru's. (There are also some changes in Chapter 6 but I think they're more cosmetic.)
>   * Mostly cosmetic changes in 1, 3, 4, and 6 of medjed, but also "CountessMonteCristo: He said my friend could stay as long as she needed, and to let me know if he could help, and then there was this extremely awkward exchange where he was trying to avoid saying he was fairly sure he wasn’t Kana’s father without anyone having brought the possibility up, but still wanted to convey that information."
>   * A lot of stage direction changes towards the end of Collateral chapter 1 and throughout chapter 2.
>   * Instead of introducing all the servants to Makoto (who can't remember them), Haru has gotten the names of the housekeeping staff who are supposed to be in for the next week, looked them up on social media, and printed pictures so they can verify their identities (which Makoto can't focus on).
> 


**Author's Note:**

> Come talk at me at [my tumblr](https://ceescedasticity.tumblr.com/) (very active, random writing babble along with misc multifandom opinions and assorted reblogs) or [my dreamwidth](https://scedasticity.dreamwidth.org) (hardly ever post, but I get notifications)!
> 
> The series now has a [tropes page](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/StartAgain)! which is very exciting.


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